 A very good evening everyone. Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis brought to you by Shankar Ayes Academy. So we have 12 articles chosen for discussion today and the first article will be based on the debt restructuring and the resolution plan 2.0. That will be a brief description on the debt restructuring. The second part of our discussion will be based on the Maldives. India is building a bridge in the Maldives and we will be talking about that in the second part of our discussion. And in the next part we will be talking about the Chagos Island, the issues surrounding the Chagos Island, the map perspective of the Chagos Island. So that will be a focus in that particular article. And next we will be talking about the Sydney Cluster Development Fund and that's a small news article we will be talking about that particular scheme and that is very important from the preliminary perspective. And the next part of today's discussion we will be talking about Chakma and the Hajjong issue in the Arnachal Pradesh. So that will be a focus there and next we will be talking about the UIDAI. So the website of UIDAI is down and based on that we will be talking about UIDAI as well as ADAR. And after that we will be talking about Kaveri and based on the tributary Hemavati we will be talking about Kaveri. It will be a quick brush up. We have seen Kaveri so many times but we will be talking about it again from the preliminary perspective just as a revision. And next we will be talking about Sambhar Lake. If at all you know it is located in Rajasthan we will be dealing up with it in a very brief manner mostly from the preliminary perspective. Next we will be talking about the National Monetization Pipeline. In yesterday's class itself Kirtna Ma'am had already briefed about it. So it will be a quick recap about the National Monetization Plan in today's discussion based on one particular editorial. And next we will be talking about the Vultures of India. So this is also based on an editorial discussion. So that will be a quick recap from July 26th. We are doing this recap solely because the preliminary exam is approaching and it is a very important topic. And lastly we will be discussing a huge editorial based on data. So with that we will be concluding the discussion with some preliminary questions as well. In the practice preliminary questions we will be talking about Inner Line Permit in a very brief manner and that is also important from the preliminary perspective. And finally we will see some main exam questions and with that we will wrap up our discussion for today. Most of our viewers will know about the Yojana analysis that we are trying to do. So the first part is already out. The next part is due to be released very soon. So say stay tuned with us. Now let's go on to the analysis for today. Now take a look at this news article. This is going to be a quick discussion regarding the Resolution Framework 2.0 as mentioned in the article. First let us see what Resolution Framework 2.0 is. Then we will cover up the article. All right. See during lockdowns and after lockdowns many individuals and businesses experienced heavy financial and job losses. So in order to relieve the stress faced by most individuals and businesses the RBI came up with the Resolution Framework 2.0. See already RBI had a Resolution Framework and this is the second version of that. So this is mainly to cover up those individuals and businesses that were left out from the Resolution Framework of 1.0. All right. See the Resolution Framework 2.0 is a framework for debt restructuring of stressed individuals, small businesses, micro small and medium enterprises. So let us first understand what is debt restructuring. See debt is money borrowed by one party from another. Correct. And debt restructuring is a process used by the companies, individuals and even countries to avoid the risk of defaulting on their existing debts. So that's a long sentence. Let us break it down. See there is a company A. All right. This particular company is borrowing money from a bank. Let us consider the bank as B. All right. And then lockdown happens and it is running into losses. Company A is running into losses. There are no profits being made. So it is not able to repay the amount to the bank B. So bank B is also running a loss. Why the company A is not able to give the interests that it is supposed to give for any loan lender. We know the interests are the actual profits. So the bank B is also worried that company A is running into loss. So what the bank B may propose or what the company A may propose is what is called as debt restructuring. So what happens is say the company A has borrowed 1 lakh rupees. Okay. So this particular 1 lakh rupees has to be repaid at an interest of say 2 percentage. So considering the plight of company A, the bank may choose to waive off the interest. That is one option or the bank may say instead of 1 lakh just pay me 80,000. That is one way or the bank may say instead of paying, give me a share in your company. That is another way. So all these ways are a means by which the debt of rupees 1 lakh has been restructured. Either it will turn into 80,000 or the interest will be waived off or the bank may actually acquire some stakes or share in a company A. So all these phenomenon is what is called as debt restructuring. See these debt restructuring techniques can provide relief to many companies and individuals during tough times and the bank may prefer debt restructuring instead of bankruptcy because say if the company A says that I'm bankrupt and I can't pay the money back. So in that case, it will reach the court or the insolvency and bankruptcy board. So when it reaches the insolvency bankruptcy board or when it reaches the court, the amount of money that the bank B might get will be much lesser. So instead of 1 lakh, it may end up getting only 50,000. But when it is trying to restructure, it may get 80,000 or it may even get the stakes in the company. So the lender would actually prefer debt restructuring rather than bankruptcy. All right. So this is what debt restructuring means. So in order to help the MSMEs, the RBI has introduced the resolution framework 2.2 after the second wave of the pandemic to meet the plight of those who have been left out from the resolution framework of 1.0. All right. So see, according to the report by Chrysler ratings, very few corporates have opted for debt restructuring under the RBI's resolution framework 2.2. And many companies are showing low to no interest when it comes to RBI's resolution framework 2.0. This is because after the second wave of pandemic, there was a quick recovery in demand. So few days ago, someone had asked me to explain what is a V shaped recovery. So follow the diagram. Say the economy is growing at a particular rate, say 6% or 7%. Okay, so the lockdown happened. The demand went down. The consumption went down. So when the demand and consumption goes down, the production also went down. Okay, so that happened. And the growth saw a dip, a sharp dip. And after the economy started opening up, the demand revived, the consumption revived, and therefore the production also revived. And when all these things happen without any hindrance, the recovery will be back on track. So this is what is called as V shaped recovery. All right. So some businesses have been experiencing this V shaped recovery. And that is exactly why the demand for the resolution framework 2.0 has been muted. So we can be safely said that many companies are gaining confidence in our economic growth. And also during the second wave of pandemic lockdowns were more localized and stringent. So many businesses experienced relatively lower disruptions in business activities compared to the first wave. So this is why very few companies have opted for debt restructuring under the RBI resolution framework 2.0. All right. So I hope you understood what is debt restructuring, what is a V shaped recovery. And we also saw about the resolution framework 2.0 very briefly. And this brings us to the end of this particular article. Let us move on to the next discussion. Now let us take up this news article. See this article reports about the signing of the Greater Malay connectivity project, which is going to be the largest ever infrastructure project to be built in the Maldives. Now based on this context, we'll be learning some crucial details about this project and its significance. So let us get into the article. The relevant syllabus for this article is given here for your reference. As we know, Maldives or the Maldives Islands is an independent island country that is located in the northern part of the Indian Ocean. Look at the map. It lies very close to India. And as I said earlier, recently, India has signed a pact with Maldives for the Greater Malay connectivity project. And this initiative is actually a direct result of the India first policy of the Maldives and also India's neighborhood first foreign policy. Okay, so they both come in conjunction when we talk about this particular project. See the estimated cost of this project is said to be around $500 million. See the said project will consist of a 6.74 kilometer long bridge and a causeway between Malay and the nearby islands of Willingilly, Guli Fallu and Tila Fushi. All right. And what is this causeway? Causeway is nothing but a raised way across the wet ground or water. Remember that and have a look at the displayed picture to get an idea of the project structure. So we have the Tila Fushi here and we have Guli Fallu, Willingilly and we have the capital Malay. So these are the string of islands. And as the map depicts, the project will be connecting Malay with the nearby islands of Willingilly, Guli Fallu and Tila Fushi. See, let us understand the reason as to why these places are chosen. So as we know, Malay is the densely populated capital of the Maldives. See, these four islands together account for about half of the Maldivian population. And not only that, a new international airport is also planned to be constructed at the Guli Fallu Island. Likewise, Tila Fushi is a remarkable industrial zone of that particular country. Therefore, the only way to connect them is through Willingilly. So at such a juncture, most in the connectivity of these places will act economic value for the Maldives. And most importantly, note that this project is going to be bigger than the Cinamale Bridge that was built by the Chinese assistance in 2018. So let us know about this particular project. As you can see, the project connects the other half of the Maldivian islands. That is, it connects the Malay with Hulhu Malay and Hulhu Le. All right. And it is called as China Maldives Friendship Bridge as well. And this project has been entrusted to the AFCON's Infrastructure Limiter, which is a construction and engineering company based in Mumbai. And it is an Indian construction giant known for its extreme engineering projects. If you remember, this particular company was the one which built the Senab Railway Bridge also. And on talking about the significance of this project to India. So this is important from the mains perspective. So pay attention. See this project will be an enduring symbol of the India-Maldives partnership and is also expected to strengthen the bilateral relations between both the nations. And since this is not only the biggest project India is doing in Maldives, but also the biggest infrastructure project in the overall Maldives as well. And not only that, the project has got the potential to better connect the business, people and industries of the two nations. And for your additional information, India also started an air travel bubble with the Maldives in August 2020. And it is India's first air bubble in South Asia region. And on that line about 60 weekly flights connect Malay with the five Indian cities. So this is more about the friendship of India and Maldives. Now let us see about the funding of this project. Know that this project will be funded by the XM Bank of India under the Indian grant and light of credit scheme. So according to that, a grant of about hundred million dollars and a line of credit of 400 million will be funded from India. So what is the difference? You may ask, see grant means we give the money to the Maldives and we don't expect them to return it back to us. So we just give it away free of cost, okay? Whereas a line of credit is not like that. Line of credit is where we give some kind of loan to the Maldives. So that is what is called as line of credit, not just Maldives, line of credit means we give a loan to any particular country. And here to Maldives right now we'll be giving about 400 million dollars. So why are we calling it as a loan? Because line of credit is a kind of a soft loan. What is a soft loan? A loan that is landed at a very, very meager interest rate, say at 1% 0.5% and that is what is called as line of credit. And line of credit is extended by India to other friendly nations as a diplomatic tool as well. And if you see even India has taken a line of credit for Japan for various infrastructure projects. So it is a diplomatic tool that countries use to further their influence. And on those lines India is also offering a line of credit of around 400 million dollars. So coming back to this particular topic. See developmental assistance in the form of concessional lines of credit is extended by the government of India through the Exim Bank of India. And it is done under the Indian development and economic assistance scheme. So keep this particular fact in mind. So this is all about the greater Malik connectivity project. You should know about the location of Malik or Maldives. And you should also know about India-Maldives relation. The China factor. China is trying hard to expand its influence in the Indian Ocean. And that is exactly why it built the China-Maldives friendship bridge as well. So this is more like a counter to the China's assistance to Maldives. And you should also know about Maldives India first policy and our India's neighborhood first policy. And just have a rough idea about the islands. This particular project connects. And of course the significance of this particular project. Okay. So this will be the take away from this particular article. With that let's move on to the next segment of today's discussion. Now look at this article. See recently the UN postal agency has decided to ban the British stamps from being used on the Chagos Archipelago. So this decision by the UN postal agency has put the dispute of Chagos Island. Again in the spotlight. So let us see about it. First let us see about the Chagos Archipelago. See Chagos Archipelago is an island group in the central Indian Ocean. And it is located about 1000 miles that is 1600 kilometers south of the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. We'll be seeing about another set of islands in this particular locality further in the discussion. So just pay attention to the location. So Mauritius is located to the south of the Chagos Island. Pay attention to that. And we have Maldives above the Chagos Island. So if at all you get a question in films asking you to arrange the islands of Maldives, Chagos Island, Mauritius in the Indian Ocean from north to south. So the first one will be Maldives followed by Chagos Island and then Mauritius. Alright? Keep that in mind. Now coming back to the discussion. Let us know about the dispute. It's an interesting story. See according to Mauritius, Chagos Island has been a part of its territory since at least the 18th century. And the UK took control of the Chagos Island in 1965 and the United Kingdom formed the British Indian Ocean Territory with these islands. See it is important to note that the British Indian Ocean Territory also included islands from Cessals. And they were Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroces. But in June 1976, Cessals gained independence from the United Kingdom. So the islands of the Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroces were returned by the UK. They were no longer part of British Indian Ocean Territory. See this event created a problem. The UK only returned the islands of Cessals. It did not return Chagos Islands back to Mauritius. See Mauritius got independence from Britain in 1968. So by the same logic, the Britishers should have returned the Chagos Island back to Mauritius. But they did not. They retained the sovereignty in the Chagos Island. And according to the Mauritius government, the UK apparently forcibly took the Chagos Island in return for their independence. That is, only if I retain the Chagos Island, you will get independence. That is what the UK said. So why this much interest in Chagos Island? You may ask. See the Chagos Islands have been used for defense purposes by both UK as well as the United States. And this Archipelago has an important military base on the island of Diego Garcia. So because of these strategic reasons, the UK is not returning the Chagos Island. See the western powers are always interested in keeping their presence in the Indian Ocean. Even the France has a presence in the Indian Ocean on the reunion islands. And that is the same logic by which the UK and the US want to retain their presence in the Chagos Island. And also the UK forcibly removed the entire Chagosian population from these islands between 1967 and 1973, which is a sad state of affairs. And it also prevented the native population from returning to these islands. So finally the government of Mauritius approached the International Court of Justice for justice. Before that they even approached the Permanent Court of Ibitration and the United Nations and everything went in favor of Mauritius. Still the UK did not make it. And at last they went to the ICG. That is International Court of Justice. And the ICG also asked the UK to return the Chagos back to Mauritius. And it has also said that the continued British occupation of the Chagos Archipelago is illegal. But so far the UK is not honoring this decision of the ICG. So this is the entire issue. Now let us see what does India stand on the issue. See India has supported the Mauritius stand on the Chagos Archipelago. India in its submission to the ICG has said that the Chagos Archipelago has been and continues to be with the Mauritius and demanded sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago from the Britain. And India wants to stay committed to the Indian Ocean neighbor Mauritius which is a friendly nation of ours as well as its anti-colonial credentials. So this is India stand on this particular issue. You may keep this in mind for your main exam. But apart from that you should know about the location of the Chagos which is with the Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. And you can also quote this particular issue as the reminiscence of the colonialism that was supposed to have disappeared much earlier. All right? Or you can even describe the US's presence as a neocolonialism as well. So with that point in mind let us move on to the next segment of today's discussion. Take a look at this news article. This article mentions that Tamil Nadu will get financing under SIDB cluster development fund. So what is the SIDB? SIDB stands for Small Industries Development Bank of India. And the fund mentioned here is for the MSME sector development. So quickly relate SIDB cluster development fund is for MSME sector development. This is a potential area for preliminary exam. See the MSME sector is quite an important sector of Indian economy because they contribute a major chunk of employment, innovation, exports and they also contribute to the inclusive growth of the economy. That is most of the vulnerable sections of the Indian economy are involved in the MSME. And this helps the economy to grow and also the vulnerable section to grow and that is exactly why MSMEs are very important. And knowing their significance we have a separate ministry for that called the Union Ministry of MSME. And this ministry has adopted a cluster development approach. So when we say cluster it refers to a group of enterprises that are located within an identifiable area or near each other. Basically that is what we mean. It also means a group which are producing the same or similar products and services and whose value chain goes beyond a geographical area. Understand this? Say you're producing a bag. A leather bag is produced in some kind of area. Say we can name the area as A. In that area we are producing leather bags. I'm not the only one producing. Few other people are also producing the leather bags because leather is very much available in that particular place. And a bag will require a zip also and the bag will require some kind of embroidery also to make it better looking. But the people of my area A do not know how to make a zip, do not know how to do embroidery to make it look better. So what we do is we send it to some other area. Say the area B for it to get value added. And here the value chain extends from the area A to an area B. So it extends beyond the geographical area. So A and B together can be a cluster for manufacturing of leather bags. So this is what we mean by cluster and all of these will be called a cluster only when they are linked together by a common physical infrastructure facilities that helps to address the common challenges. So in our case adding value to the leather bag is the common challenge. And what is the physical infrastructure? It could be a road that connects A and B or it could be a machine that can make these zips and attach it to the leather bags. So only when there is a common infrastructure it is called as a cluster. See such clusters have several advantages. First it mainly enables the providers of various services to provide their services more economically to these enterprises. Understand this. See generally individual MSMEs struggle to grow as they have limited access to resources and this limitation is removed in the cluster. Say for example when I'm trying to set up this particular leather bag production unit I may not have enough money. So what I do is I take help of three four friends, together I get the loan or together I put their resources along with mine and I set up this particular unit. So that is one benefit of cluster that we are discussing here. And apart from that clusters can achieve levels of competitiveness that reach beyond the potential of individual enterprises. So coming back to the same example so when I'm producing leather bag alone I will not be able to attach a zip to it. I will not be able to do embroidery on it but when I'm with the cluster B I'll be able to make a bag which is better looking and which has better features. So my bag will be sold in a much better price and in a much better way and it will build the competition in a much better manner in a business environment. So clusters enable competition by cooperation and apart from that they can pool resources and efforts together for the achievement of shared economic goals and sustainable development. Alright so on a whole the cluster development approach explains how cooperation and joint activities can go hand in hand with competition. So as to help an underachieving cluster to become a dynamic cluster. Alright therefore through cluster development approach the ministry aims to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of the MSMEs and this will be along with enhancing the capacity building of the MSMEs and their collectiveness in the country and note that the SIDB is the APEX body and the financial institution responsible for supporting financing and the development of the MSME sector and along with SIDB, RBI and SEBI frame broad policies for facilitating funding support to this particular sector. So it is in this regard only SIDB with the support of RBI has set up the SDF. Alright SEDIF's purpose is to support the hard infrastructure facilities in the clusters across India. So let us understand what is this hard infrastructure. See there are two types of interventions that have been envisaged for the MSME sector. One is soft and another one is hard. Soft intervention is where we bring attitudinal changes necessary to initiate improvement in the existing style of working in the MSMEs in the cluster. So it could be the general awareness or the counseling that they may require or the motivation that they may require and market development including exports and putting them into seminars, workshops, training programs all these are soft interventions okay. When we come to hard interventions it refers to creating hard infrastructure facilities that is the creation of tangible assets as common facility centers. This includes the common production processing center, designing center, testing facilities, training centers, research and development centers all these are hard interventions. So for a leather factory it could be the production unit of the leather bag that will be a hard intervention okay. So SCDF will support setting up upgradation and renovation of hard infrastructure facilities and these will be done in areas other than agriculture remember. So this could be a potential preliminary catch. The CIDB cluster development fund will support setting up of hard infrastructure facilities other than agriculture keep that in mind. Now the news is that under the SCDF CIDB has provided first approval to Tamil Nadu for financing of about 524 crore and the fund is for upgrading various existing MSME clusters and for developing new industrial infrastructural facilities in the state. So this is all that you'll have to know about CIDB cluster development fund so in the course of discussion we also understood what is the cluster and what is hard infrastructure what is soft infrastructure and the other features of this particular scheme all right. So with that let's move on to the next segment of today's discussion. Now let us take up this article for our discussion next. See recently the Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to relocate Chakma and Hajong settlers beyond these states and this decision was welcomed by an apex students organization in that particular state and in this context let us know a brief history about how Chakma and Hajong settlers came to Arunachal Pradesh and why are they relocated now. So we are just going to understand the issues first. See the Chakma and Hajong settlers were originally the inhabitants of Chittagong hill tracks of the former East Pakistan which is right now Bangladesh. So they were forced out of the country because of two reasons. The first reason is the construction of Kapthai hydroelectric dam in their area. See this dam was built on Karnapuli river in the early 1960s and remember it is the largest and the most important river in the Chittagong hill tract and the dam and the river are highlighted here. Now coming back these ethnic people were displaced from their homeland for the construction of this dam and they were not provided any rehabilitation or compensation and the second reason is the religious persecution. So they became victims of religious persecution in East Pakistan and they fled to India and remember the Chakmas are Buddhists and Hajongs are Hindus. See even though they belong to Bangladesh in 2015 our supreme court directed the center to grant citizenship to Chakma and Hajongs and currently Chakma and Hajongs are citizens by birth as per section three one of the citizenship act and the eligible portion of their population excise the right to vote as citizens of India. So remember they did not directly come into the ambit of citizenship amendment act 2019 because Arunachal Pradesh is one among the states exempted from the citizenship amendment act because it has an inner line permit to regulate the entry of the outsiders. So it came outside the ambit of the citizenship amendment act of 2019. Keep this point in mind again this could be a trick place for preliminary. So here comes the problem the state has been repeatedly saying that it could not permit the outsiders to settle in its territory. So because that would adversely affect the state's demography and there may be problem in sharing the state's limited resources and that's what they say and even though they are minority their name in the state's electoral roles can cause an impact in the election results. So the rights of indigenous people may be diluted and this is what they consider. So for the above seen reasons the state has decided to relocate Chakma and the Hajong settlers beyond the state. So this step is little controversial because some say that people who sought refuge in India are being you know expelled from their homes repeatedly and there is another take which says that the indigenous population needs to be preserved. It's a very contentious thing but to the attention of the anthropology optional students. See Chakma and Hajong are people who have been displaced as a result of the developmental processes in the Bangladesh and they came to India they sought refuge and Supreme Court was generous enough to grant them citizenship and now they are being relocated all over again. So this is a classic example of how development and livelihood come in direct conflict with each other. This could be a potential case study for your exam. So pay attention and remember Chakma and Hajong are people from Bangladesh who are right now settled in Arunachal Pradesh. So that could be an area for preliminary question. Keep that in mind with that let's move on to the next segment of today's discussion. So now we'll be seeing three small topics. It'll be more of a quick revision for your preliminary exam. So one will be based on a UIDAI, another will be a quick recap of the Khabiri river system and we'll also have a small discussion on Sambar lakes. Okay so let's start with UIDAI. See like the article says apparently the UIDAI system is down and for about a week it is down and so many people are thronging the website just to meet their deadlines. Okay and a lot of people are looking to link their pan numbers with Adarkoid and their deadline is around in the September and apart from that the EPFO members are also thronging the UIDAI website and all these carriers has caused probably the IT system of the UIDAI to hang. So in this context let us quickly revise what is UIDAI. See UIDAI stands for the Unique Identification Authority of India and note that this is an agency under the Central Government of India and what does it do? It collects demographic data and biometric information from the residents of the country. Pay attention it collects information from the country's residents. It doesn't mean citizens. All right so what is demographic data? Demographic data is the data about the population. What are the biometric information? It can be the iris, it can be the photograph. So these are the biometric information that is being collected under the Adarkoid and in addition to it it also stores the data in a central database and through this it also issues the residents of the country a 12-digit unique identity number called Aadhar. Remember Aadhar is a 12-digit number. See it may look very trivial. It is these kind of questions where the UPSC might ask and we may actually forget it in the heat of the moment. So remember Aadhar is a 12-digit number issued under UIDAI. All right and UIDAI was established as per the Aadhar targeted delivery of financial and other subsidies, benefits and services act of 2016 and this act is under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Remember this also and prior to its establishment as a statutory authority UIDAI was functioning as an attached office of the Planning Commission or Naunati Ayug and UIDAI has so far issued more than 124 crore Aadhar numbers to the residents of India. Remember residents of India and UIDAI has its headquarters in New Delhi in our national capital and it has other eight regional offices across the country. This part of information is not important but the headquarters of course is important and when it comes to the composition of UIDAI it consists of two part-time members and a chief executive officer. Remember this this is all about UIDAI we quickly recapped UIDAI now let us move on to refreshing Kaveri river. So we all know by now Kaveri river takes its origin from the western Ghats of Brahmagiri hills it flows from the western Ghats and it drains into the Bay of Bengal so that makes it a east flowing river okay and now let's quickly recap what are the tributaries. So we took up this discussion on Kaveri mainly because Hemavati made news right so Harangi, Hemavati, Shimsha, Arkavati, Lakshmana Tirtha and Swarnavati. All these rivers joins Kaveri in Karnataka itself and apart from that we have Kabini that originates in Kerala and then it joins the Kaveri in Karnataka. Remember it is all K, Kabini, Kerala, Karnataka, Kaveri. All right and apart from that we have Bhavani, we have Amaravati and Noyal as main tributaries from remember all these names of course tributaries are an important area for UPSC preliminary exam all right and in Karnataka the river bifurcates into two remember this it bifurcates into two forming the sacred islands of Srirangapatnam and Sivasamadram. See this is an important part because inland islands that is riverine islands are a rare phenomenon so you have to remember these two islands all right and don't forget the tributaries also. Now moving on to the next topic so our next discussion will be based on this news article that is Sambhar lake. See the Sambhar lake is something very unique in India because it is the largest inland saline wetland remember that it is the largest inland saline saline meaning salt water wetland all right and this particular lake is located about 70 kilometers from Jaipur that is Rajasthan and it is located in the foothills of Aravalli remember this and another fact that you should remember is that it is the largest of the inland saline wetlands in India and apart from that know that about four rivers drain into this particular lake this particular lake is salty the same reason why the sea water is salty so this particular lake is also salty and it is so salty that people extract salt from this particular river and this particular lake supplies most of Rajasthan's salt so that is the amount of salt content in this particular lake and remember that because of the salt this particular lake has the deposits in its bottom and it gives a silvery appearance for the lake itself and that is a very famous feature for this particular lake that you'll have to remember and another very very important fact is that it is a wetland of international importance under Ramsar convention that is it is a Ramsar wetland okay and if you see the famous word that visits this particular lake is the flamingos they visit this lake very often and they migrate from the northern Asian region to this particularly all right and this is all that you'll have to remember so if you expect a question about some water body like this of sambar lake look at this question it's a two statement question and we are asked to identify the incorrect statement the first statement is that the lake forms a part of Ganga river basin see this is an easy statement anyone who knows where is sambar lake will know this is incorrect all right and look at the next statement the central ground water board has termed it as over exploited see let me tell you a small jugard see any lake or any water body in India will be over exploited we will be using it beyond its capacity thanks to the population pressure and thanks to the industrial pressure so if at all a statement goes like this someone has termed something as over exploited especially with respect to water body or a wetland there is a good chance that this statement is correct so if we see the fact wise also the central ground water board has indeed termed this particular lake as over exploited because so much of salt is being extracted and ground water extraction is also happening so with that we can say that statement 2 is correct and statement 1 is incorrect so the question asks us to identify the incorrect statement so the correct answer will be option a so with that let's move on to the next segment of today's discussion so this particular article the risks and rewards talks about the national monetization pipeline so yesterday in kirtana mam session you might have known about the national infrastructure pipeline and the national monetization pipeline so this is an elaborate description of that particular aspect only so quickly rushing through what is national monetization pipeline the government will give out the revenue rights of the central public sector enterprise to a private entity not necessarily a domestic entity some private entity it can even be a foreign entity they will take up the revenue rights of a public sector undertaking for a specific period and for that the public sector undertaking or the government will receive some amount of capital from that particular private entity so government is utilizing the national monetization pipeline as a tool to scramble for capital for investments in the post-covid era and this will in turn form part of the national infrastructure pipeline through which the government is envisaging to expand its infrastructure through capital investment of rupees triple one lakh so this is a quick recap of this particular topic let's move on to the next segment now look at this particular news article this article talks about the importance of vultures see vultures is a topic that we have already discussed on 26th of july in venzy mam's session see vultures are really threatened species enduring the session you might recall that vultures population is depleting rapidly so why so because vultures feed on the dead especially the dead cattles and all see the cattles are given something called dichlofenac sodium which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug and cattles are given that for pain management of the cattles and when the cattles die this dichlofenac sodium is retained in their system and the vultures that feed on this particular carcass of cattle also ends up ingesting the dichlofenac sodium and that proves harmful for the vultures kidneys and that is exactly why the vultures die off also the vultures that feed on cattles that are fed on dichlofenac sodium pass away and this is how the vulture populations have been rapidly declining and this particular article also throws light on this aspect now let us quickly brush through the species of vultures in India and there are you seeing status so first we'll see the critically endangering ones the first is the oriental white bat vulture that is critically endangered long-build vulture is critically endangered slender build vulture is critically endangered apart from that red-headed vulture is also critically endangered and we have egyptian vulture which is only endangered not critically endangered and we have himalayan griffin that is near threatened we have bearded vulture that is near-threatened and we also have Sino-racist vulture which is near-threatened. And we have Eurasian griffin that is least concern which means we have adequate number of population. So kindly remember the critically endangered ones and the endangered ones. So if at all a question comes on vultures and their IUCN status you can quickly attempt it. Alright? So with that let's move on to the next segment. Now look at this particular editorial. See this article suggests about how data is very important for policymaking. See on 19th of August also there was an editorial telling us how important data is and that particular article was quite critical about the government not disclosing the data and how data can be used as a public good and for the public welfare. So in this context we'll be discussing this article, we'll be taking some references from the previous article published on 19th of August as well. So let us discuss it. See here is the syllabus relevant for this particular topic. See the states collect enormous amount of administrative data. So what is administrative data? Say you go to a village, you identify a person, you identify the name of the person, you know down the name, you know down the age of the person, what is the gender of the person, what is the role of the person and the family. All these things can be connected and used for delivery of a particular service. Say if the person belongs to a vulnerable section then the government support will be needed for the vulnerable section and this particular usage of data for the governance is what is called as administrative data and states use these data to make policies as well and policies such as how to control population or how to make evidence based policymaking and such other policies. So what is the role of data in policymaking? Let us understand in much more depth. See the goal of data based policymaking is to facilitate the use of evidence to make programmatic funding decisions. Say there is a village A and there is another village B and this village A is quite wealthy, they are well developed, their literacy rate is over 90% and the gender gap is very little and both men and women go to work and the children are all going to school, the educational opportunities are great in village A but consider a village B this village is comparatively less prosperous than the village A. Say the gender gap is very high, probably the children are refusing to go to school and there are so many social problems that is existent then the government will want to focus more on village B rather than on village A. So when data is present on the amount of literacy or on the amount of gender equality then a policy will be based which focuses more on village B rather than on village A but think about it, without data in government's eyes village A and village B will be in the same level. So say the government is spending 1000 rupees on the villages, so government will give 500 for village A and 500 for village B in the absence of a credible data. But when the government knows that the village B is less prosperous compared to village A, the government will be inclined to spend more on village B compared to village A. So this is what we mean by programmatic funding decisions. Simply put, data based policy making facilitates targeted resource allocations. So when you make targeted resource allocations, perceptible changes can be made in the areas that are desirable and this can address inter and intra-district inequalities as well. Now let us see what are the challenges in data based policy making. See government have a collection of vast amount of granular data on citizens. See what is this granular data? Granular data is the rough data about a citizen. But the problem is that these administrative data are often not validated. For example we know that the flow of funds below the block level is often opaque. That is the government can track the fund from the funding area to the block level. But after that who receives the fund becomes opaque. That is we don't know which person is accessing that particular fund allocated to that particular fund. There is no mechanism to validate this particular data. And this affects the entire of the decision making process. So because the government does not know if the person is receiving it or not, does not know if the money it is spending is making any changes or not, the government is not able to make proper decisions. So this is what we mean. And this in turn will also cause delays in the funding process. Why? Because skeptical the government will not know if the funds are actually making any changes that it is desiring. So the funding process also becomes slow. So this is the data validation at the citizen level. Say consider Mandrega master roles, right? So these master roles are self declared from the Panchayat only. And there is a good possibility that some person gets enrolled in players of some other person and that could be fudged. And there is no mechanism to validate this particular thing. So that is what we mean by there is a difficulty in data validation. Apart from that there is another challenge. The government furnished data could also be fudged. For example, the recent data on education released by the union government shows that Tamil Nadu has around 27 educationally backward districts. And let me tell you this data is immediately unacceptable. Let us understand why? Because the literacy rate of Tamil Nadu in census 2011 was higher at 80.1 percentage when compared to the national figures of 73. That is Tamil Nadu's literacy rate was even above the national average. Even Dharmapuri district which is a district in Tamil Nadu known for its developmental issues, right? Even Dharmapuri district has a literacy rate of 68.5 percentage close to the national average. So there is a good possibility that the union government's data that says that Tamil Nadu has 27 educationally backward districts is flawed. This is one particular data which could be analyzed and a flaw could be found. But there are so many other data that the government releases does not have a mechanism to be verified. So even the government released data could be invalidated. So this is what we are trying to say. The data that is being released needs a validation mechanism. But think about it, this validation is also challenging. Because when we try to match how much money is spent, this is how much asset is created, even that matching is very difficult. Because there is no reporting mechanism. And besides, one good thing that we can do is we can link databases of various departments and all. But this is also challenging because there are issues of territorial jurisdictions. There are other areas as well where you might find it very hard to narrow down on the territorial jurisdictions. And there is another problem also. Identifying the beneficiaries is a problem. When we are trying to link the databases. Because one state may consider one individual poor. Whereas another state may consider another individual poor. That is, I am talking about the accountability line. So identifying the beneficiaries is very difficult. When we are trying to cross link the databases. And this in turn makes the validation of the data very difficult. So in essence, what I am trying to say is a good, authentic verified data is very essential for governance. So a good data can prevent leakages, can prevent corruption, can infuse transparency and can bring about vulnerability. So in order to have good data in hand let us also see some of the way forwards. One major thing that we can do is the validation of data through the urban local bodies and the rural local bodies. See like we saw the funds that are dispersed from the government are being made opaque after the block levels. So involving the local bodies that is urban local body and rural local bodies to verify this particular data that is fixing the accountability at this particular level will be a very good step to validate the data. And apart from this there is a need to develop a mechanism that can unify these various datasets under a single identifier. So and apart from this the quantitative data can be supplemented with smaller qualitative studies to capture processes subjectivity and contextual factors. So what is this qualitative data within what are these qualitative studies say saying that in village A there are 100 people that is quantitative data. But what is a qualitative data that describing the characteristics of this 100 people is what is called as qualitative data. Say in of the 100 people 50 could be men and 50 could be women and some can belong to minority community some can belong to some minority religion. These are the qualitative aspects of that particular quantitative data. So when you back a data with qualitative studies the authenticity of that particular data also goes up and apart from that the state also must ensure a decentralized system of data collection process. So this is very similar to the first point that we saw in way forward and each state must build their own databases. And for this the state must invest heavily in both human and technical infrastructure alright. So what is the technical infrastructure that we are referring to? It includes the basic computer to that of the storage area or the cloud that should be involved to store this data very securely. And each state must ensure built in quality control measures to ensure credibility of that particular data alright. So these are some way forward to get some good authentic and qualitative data that can help in governance alright. So in this particular article we saw why data based governance is very important and what are the ways to achieve a data based governance that is good data based governance alright. So with this we are at the fag end of today's discussion. So in that direction we have four questions let's go over it one by one. So the first question is based on the SIDB cluster development program that we saw in the discussion. Let's read the question which among the following are essential characteristics of enterprises in a cluster according to cluster development program of the government. So we have four options complementarity in the methods of production. Similar levels of technology and marketing strategies, varied market, common skill needs. See varied market is incorrect because one of the important characteristics is common market that we actually saw. So we are eliminating option three. So any option that does not have three will be the right answer which will be B and C. And in the due course of the discussion we saw complementarity in the sorts of production is an important aspect. So we are including one also with that we are eliminating B. So the right answer will be one, two and four only. Moving on to the next question. So this particular question asks us to arrange the islands from north to south. So we saw this particular topic in the discussion today. We have four options. Union Island, Chagos Island, Lakshadip Island and Maldives. See if you can recollect the map. The Lakshadip Island is the closest to India. And just beneath the Lakshadip will be the Maldives. See Maldives also we saw in the discussion today. And when we were discussing itself I said Maldives lies above Chagos. So the order will be Lakshadip, Maldives and Chagos. So let us look for these three islands in this particular order. So we have two options. A and B having Lakshadip first. And in option A we have Chagos Island as very adjacent island to the Lakshadip. But we know Maldives lies just beneath the Lakshadip. So with that we can say option B is the right answer. That is arranging the islands north to south. It is Lakshadip, Maldives, Chagos and Reunion Islands. Alright. So let us move on to the next question. Resolution Framework 2.0 is often seen in the news. It is related to what? See the very first topic that we discussed today is related to the Resolution Framework 2.0. So with that knowledge we can quickly arrive at the answer that is debt restructuring. Alright. And moving on to the next question. The Inner Line Permit is applicable to which of the following north eastern states. See we saw about Inner Line Permit today. And India has Inner Line Permit for four states. Look at the map. The areas shaded in blue are the areas that have Inner Line Permit. So if you remember the map, remember it as those states that border the north eastern region. So we have Arunachal Pradesh, we have Nagaland, we have Mizoram and we have Manipur. So going by that option D is the right answer. One, two, three and four. So if you ask me what is an Inner Line Permit? See Inner Line Permit is a concept that was drawn by the colonial rulers itself. What it did was it separated the tribal populated hill areas from the plains. So what the Indian citizens from the rest of the area have to do is they have to take a prior permission to enter the Inner Line Permit areas. So currently we have Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur under the Inner Line Permit. Manipur was the latest addition and this concept was originated from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873. So the correct answer for the question is one, two, three and four. So with that information in mind let's move on to the next segment. So here are some of the main questions inspired from our discussion today. Write the answers and post it in the comments section. If you can type it and post it in the comments section. If not, take a photograph and share the Google Drive link with us in the comments section for peer review. Writing few answers every day will give you a significant edge in your mains preparation. So with that let's wrap up our session for today. Wear a mask, stay safe, good day.